Posts Tagged ‘chinese’

Yesterday I bombarded my brain with Mandarin. I did 3 new lessons in my Assimil Chinese with Ease. When I wasn’t actively studying, I was playing Assimil lessons so I could listen to it while I did everyday things like shaving, cooking, eating, etc. I was so upbeat about this experience that I signed up for a trial membership with Chinesepod. I took the listening test and scored at Elementary-low. Chinesepod has Newbie, Elementary, Intermediate, Upper Intermediate, Advanced, and Media levels. I sorted the Newbie lessons by ascending order by date and did the first 19. I just kept doing them one after the other and didn’t realize how many I had done till my brain said enough and I suddenly became very tired. I’ve set a goal of reaching Intermediate level at chinesepod by Thanksgiving 2008. Ideally I can reach this target by June of 2008, but November 2008 is more realistic. Who knows, if I keep working at it, Mandarin might suddenly click in my head and I could reach upper intermediate in my time frame.

I must have done at least 9 hours of mandarin input time. I definitely want to try this once a week. I really felt like I was thinking in Mandarin instead of translating from English to mandarin and vice versa. I’m going to sign up with an internet Asian dvd rental store so I can increase my mandarin listening time and hear a wider variety of speakers. Plus most stuff on US TV isn’t too interesting to me, and I can speak English.

Why be a Kept Man?

Daycare and commuting costs would be roughly take home pay. So why get all stressed and tread water financially to have someone else be the main care giver during the formative years? Plus my wife makes more then I ever did. And working took up too much of my time.